


let me make a thing of cream and stars

by metafictionally



Category: Super Junior
Genre: M/M, Winery AU, god save my soul, things i started before sungmin got married, well it's au sue me, whoops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 09:11:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2646386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metafictionally/pseuds/metafictionally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Let me do it right for once,<br/>for the record, let me make a thing<br/>of cream and stars that becomes,<br/>you know the story, simply heaven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let me make a thing of cream and stars

**Author's Note:**

> for Katya.

By the time Kyuhyun realized where they were going, it was probably already too late to escape the vehicle.

He’d been expecting something ridiculous for this birthday outing, but what Kyuhyun hadn’t expected was to be driven straight into the heart of wine country. "Ahra, please," Kyuhyun said, digging the heels of his hands into his eye sockets and pressing until starbursts exploded behind his closed eyelids. "Did you pick this because you know I think it’s pretentious?"

"You're so cute, little brother," Ahra replied with a laugh that he could tell she only halfway meant. From the seat next to Kyuhyun she reached out and patted him on the knee, condescending in the way only older sisters can be. "I picked this because it's something I wanted to do, and because you sealed your fate by forgetting my birthday. Remember? If you had shown up with even a card you wouldn't be here."

Of course Kyuhyun remembered—not like he would ever be able to live that down. It had been a busy week at work, and he'd barely been able to get his head out of the paperwork to take a breath. His parents had called him, two days after Ahra's birthday had passed, and had asked him where he had been for her birthday dinner, and it wasn't until then that Kyuhyun had realized. Nothing like your father's quiet, disappointed tones to make you feel like the scum on the bottom of someone's shoe. Especially since it wasn't even the first time.

It wasn't that Kyuhyun didn't love his sister—it was just. He was busy. He was single-minded when he was busy, and it wasn't a good combination.

Ahra had forgiven him, of course. But her forgiveness had come with a catch: Kyuhyun would have to accompany her on a belated birthday outing. In this case, it was to a wine tasting put on by one of Ahra's friends, at the winery he owned in the countryside. It had been a brilliant maneuver, even Kyuhyun had to admit that—her forgiveness made him feel even guiltier, but at the same time, Ahra got to punish him by making him endure one of the hobbies she knew he hated the most.

In the here and now, Kyuhyun watched scenery pass out the window and tried not to look too visibly unenthused. "I think you'll have more fun than you're expecting," Ahra said. "Don't knock it until you've tried it. You and Sungmin will probably get along better than you think you will."

"What does us getting along have to do with it?" Kyuhyun asked. He knew he sounded sulky, and he didn't mean to—honestly, he was too old to be pouting, but something about time with Ahra always brought out the bratty little brother in him. "I just have to drink the wine, right? And schmooze with the polo-wearing, nose-turned-up hoity toity crowd?"

"No. You drink the wine, and you appreciate it, and you learn a little bit about wineries and wine and then we go home and you can go back to burying your head in balance books and pretend you never suffered the indignity of going out to a winery with your sister," Ahra said. She was still smiling, but there was something sharp in her voice that made Kyuhyun feel chastened. Even at this age, he could still be scolded by his big sister. "Is that acceptable?"

"Yeah," Kyuhyun said. "Sorry." He caught Ahra's eye and offered her an apologetic smile, and when she returned it, it felt like things had been set right.

"Here we are," Ahra said, pulling into the winery's sprawling driveway. Kyuhyun hadn't been paying attention, not really, but now for the first time he looked out the window in an attempt to get his bearings. The winery itself was an off-white building, sunbaked, surrounded by lush green hills—the sprawl of which, Kyuhyun assumed, was the vineyard. Another building, set to the side, looked more like a house than a winery, and Kyuhyun wondered if that was where Ahra's friend, Sungmin, lived. Despite himself, and his aversion to the snotty, uptight culture he instinctively associated with things like wine tastings, Kyuhyun couldn't help but admit that the scenery was nice, but that was as close as he planned to come to admitting that this adventure didn't suck.

The parking lot was empty, so Ahra took the closest spot to the building and turned off the car. "Is anyone else coming?" Kyuhyun asked. "I thought this was a tasting."

"It is, but it's private," Ahra said. "That's Sungmin's birthday present to me."

The reminder stung, and Kyuhyun pulled a face as he climbed out of the car. "Okay, okay, point made," he said, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans and following behind Ahra as she headed for the building. "But I swear, Ahra, if he's wearing a polo I'm going to wait in the car until you're done, no matter how long it takes."

The way Ahra laughed made Kyuhyun wonder if she was making fun of him, but he didn't have time to think about it, not when she was leading him into the lobby of the winery.

It was just as cozy inside as it seemed outside, and, Kyuhyun was pleased to note, remarkably un-pretentious. There was a set of shelves to the side, displaying the various wines made by the winery, as well as cards to explain them—although Kyuhyun didn't read them too deeply, his eyes skimming over endless repetitions of _pinot noir, pinot gris, chardonnay_ until he thought his brain might leak out his ears. At least if there had been a crowd, there might have been a chance that Kyuhyun could sneak away semi-unnoticed to linger in other, more private (less snooty) parts of the winery. Like this, he was honor-bound to stay at Ahra's side.

"Sungmin-ah," Ahra called out, setting her purse and sweater down on one of the stools at what Kyuhyun presumed was the tasting bar. "If you're late, I get another free bottle, right?"

The mysterious Sungmin was still nowhere in sight, but Kyuhyun heard someone laugh from behind a door. "You wish," the voice called back, and after a moment its owner pushed through the doorway, revealing a kitchen for a split second before the door swung back into place. "No matter how much I like you, Christmas and birthday bottles are limited to one per." The man—Sungmin, or so Kyuhyun assumed—leaned in towards Ahra and kissed her cheek, then turned, smiling, to Kyuhyun and offered his hand. "Hi, I'm Lee Sungmin."

"Cho Kyuhyun," Kyuhyun replied, slowly bringing his own hand up to shake.

Sungmin was, frankly, almost the literal antithesis of what Kyuhyun had expected from a winemaker. The best word Kyuhyun could think of to describe him was _soft_ , and short, with a smile that was probably most easily described as infectious—easy and unburdened, like all he wanted to do with his life was exactly what he was doing right now. He was also, Kyuhyun noted, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and when Kyuhyun surreptitiously glanced down, he noted a pair of worn sneakers on Sungmin's feet.

Out of Sungmin's sight, Ahra nudged him, and Kyuhyun nudged her back, schooling his face out of a frown. Just because the winemaker didn't seem that bad—so far—didn't mean Kyuhyun was going to enjoy this.

"First, food," Sungmin said, clapping his hands together. "I'm making that seafood pasta you told me you liked last time you came, Ahra. You can head into the kitchen, I'll put your stuff in the closet—no, please, birthday girl," he added, when Ahra made like she was going to protest. "I'm going to beat you up if you try to do any actual work today. I'm serious."

Ahra stuck her tongue out but complied, and as she led Kyuhyun into the kitchen she said, "He is serious, you know. He practices Chinese martial arts in his spare time."

So, a t-shirt and jeans wearing, wine making martial artist. Okay.

"Kyuhyun-ssi, you're welcome to look around if you want," Sungmin called, pitching his voice to be heard over the sound of the kitchen fan. "Ahra's been here enough that she's probably bored of it, but if you have anything you're curious about please feel free to ask me." After a moment, Sungmin reappeared in the kitchen, still all smiles as he headed for the sink to wash his hands—contentious, something Kyuhyun could appreciate. "Ahra tells me you're an accountant?"

"It's more interesting than it sounds," Kyuhyun said, almost immediately defensive. It was a reaction born out of years, now, of Ahra telling people he was an accountant, accompanied by a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head that indicated she had no idea how he could possibly find accounting interesting.

Sungmin laughed. "I believe you," he said. "I had to do my own accounting for a while, when the winery was just getting up off the ground, and honestly I think it's a miracle that I didn't send myself into bankruptcy. I have nothing but respect for accountants."

He was smiling, but there was no indication to Kyuhyun that he was teasing—or, really, that he was anything other than completely genuine. It was a little strange, actually, to be around someone who was both this sweet _and_ Ahra's friend. "How much does noona pay you to keep you on her friend roll?" he asked, ducking away from Ahra's attempt at smacking his arm. "You're way too nice to actually be friends with her."

"As an accountant I'm sure you understand the importance of some discretion surrounding monetary figures," Sungmin said, grinning. Despite himself, Kyuhyun found himself grinning back. "Would you like some wine, by the way? I guess it's pretty poor form to invite you to a winery and not offer you some off the bat."

Kyuhyun pressed his lips momentarily together, then shrugged a little. "Sure," he agreed, leaning his hip against the counter in the middle of the kitchen. He'd considered sitting down for a moment, but with how friendly Sungmin seemed, he wouldn't have been surprised at being asked to help, or at least to fetch things. "I'll leave the recommendations to the professional, though."

"Ahra, can you open the cabinet and—yeah, that one. In the top rack, far left, there should be a Sauvignon blanc. Grab that, would you? And three glasses, if you have the hands for it." Sungmin watched for a moment, then, satisfied with Ahra's progress, turned back to the stovetop. "You remember which ones are the white wine glasses, right?"

"Please, I'm not that much a plebian," Ahra said with a laugh, setting the bottle and three glasses on the countertop between them. "Should I pour?"

"Sure," Sungmin said, biting his lip against a grin like he was trying not to say something further.

Instead, he just watched from the corner of his eye—Kyuhyun could tell he was looking—as Ahra uncorked the bottle and poured the wine into their glasses with a surprisingly expert flair. As soon as each glass was filled, she set the bottle down, and Kyuhyun reached for a glass, only to be stopped by Ahra's hand on his wrist.

"Fifteen minutes," she said. "White wines like to breathe, too."

"She's a good student," Sungmin said, laughing. "I can cook in peace now, knowing that Ahra hasn't forgotten everything I taught her about wine since the last time she visited."

Ahra rolled her eyes, mimed pouring the rest of the wine over Sungmin's head, and Kyuhyun couldn't keep himself from laughing.

 

The pasta that Sungmin made was shockingly good, enough so that even Kyuhyun had to praise him for it. Seafood linguine in a buttery cream sauce, filling but not too rich, and delicious enough that Kyuhyun wondered if at some point, Sungmin hadn’t wanted to be a chef. But when he voiced the idea aloud, Sungmin just waved a hand, his cheeks turning a little pink. "It's a hobby," he said, as though that somehow made his food less delicious. "I like cooking, that's all."

"Well, clearly," Ahra said, waving her fork at him, a pink shrimp speared on its tines. "It is really good, though. Honestly."

"Stop it, both of you," Sungmin said with a laugh. "I'd hope it would be, otherwise it'd be a pretty disappointing birthday dinner, wouldn't it?"

Sungmin took a sip of wine, and Kyuhyun followed suit. He had never been a wine aficionado, but even Kyuhyun could tell it was good, though when he sneaked a glance at the label he had no idea what winery it came from. "The wine is really good, too," he said, looking up at Sungmin.

"Isn't it?" Sungmin picked up the bottle, looking at the label. "It's from Eola Hills. They're maybe—thirty minutes west of here? Their Sauvignon is to die for."

"Well, I'm no expert," Kyuhyun said.

Sungmin laughed—well, it wasn't as much a laugh as it was an amused scrunching of his nose, something so startlingly cute that Kyuhyun had to blink a few times. _He’s nothing like what I expected_ , Kyuhyun thought, for about the hundredth time since arriving at the winery. It was almost enough to make him glad that Ahra had brought him out here, although Kyuhyun would die before he ever said that aloud to his sister.

"I like to think I am an expert, though, at least a little," Sungmin pointed out. "You can take my word for it, I promise."

Kyuhyun nodded. "I guess I will, then," he said, smiling.

When he turned back to his pasta, Kyuhyun caught a glimpse of Ahra from the corner of his eye, giving him a significant look. As soon as he turned his head, though, she looked away, back towards Sungmin, who was swirling his wine around in his glass almost absently. "So," Ahra said. "Do we get the grand tour before we go? You can show us all the excitement."

"It's only July," Sungmin said. "We won't harvest for another month or so, and that's when the real excitement will start. But I can show you what we have going on now, if you like."

"Sounds perfect," Ahra said. "Lead the way."

 

The production room at the winery was more or less the way Kyuhyun had imagined it—a tall, wide room full of barrels, bottles, and stainless steel tanks which Sungmin said would, eventually, hold the grape juice that would become wine. "Starting in about two weeks, we'll be all hands on deck to bottle last year's pinot gris and the pinot noir from two years ago," Sungmin said. "And hopefully, the timing will be right that as soon as we're done with that, we can start this year's harvest almost immediately."

"You have your own vineyards?" Kyuhyun asked. He had seen several as they drove up, but none that were close enough to the winery to indicate ownership.

Sungmin nodded. "We do, but they're down the road a little," he said, gesturing a little absently in no particular direction. "And they’re sort of only half ours. We own the grapes but we rent the land, so our grapes are spread out over a few different vineyards.”

“When I was younger I always had a really… romantic vision of wineries and vineyards,” Kyuhyun admitted, tilting his head back to look at the tall, raftered roof of the production room. “You know, sprawling vineyards, sunlight, big rustic buildings full of barrels…”

“Did you watch Parent Trap a lot when you were younger?” Sungmin asked, a hint of teasing in his voice. Kyuhyun opened his mouth to argue—uselessly, since Sungmin had hit the nail right on the head with that one, damn him—but Sungmin laughed and shook his head, holding up both hands in a placating gesture. “No judgment, that movie was part of what made me want to own a winery when I grew up. I wanted to be that guy riding his horse between the rows of grapes.”

Kyuhyun paused. “...And are you?”

“I don’t have a horse,” Sungmin said with an affected pout. “So that part of the dream is sadly unfulfilled.”

“Not to interrupt, but Sungmin, you know these labels all have a typo in your winery name, right?” Ahra said from the left, where she was crouching next to a box of label strips. She pointed to the embossed lettering, which did indeed feature an unfortunate and prominently placed misspelling. “I hope you’re not planning on putting all these on your pinot gris.”

It was a testament to how much Kyuhyun had been enjoying his conversation with Sungmin that he had almost forgotten Ahra was there, something that made his ears turn red even as he tried his best to hide his embarrassment. How like a schoolboy he was acting, with stars in his eyes for some senior with a charming smile. Wasn’t he too old to behave like this? And it didn’t help that Ahra kept giving him significant looks, like she knew something that Kyuhyun hadn’t yet figured out.

“God, no,” Sungmin replied, walking over to peel one of the stickers off of the wax paper strip. He stuck it to Ahra’s cheek, grinning. “The company sent us these and apparently hadn’t even noticed the problem. The new shipment should come in early this week. At least they didn’t charge us again to fix their mistake.”

“You should put a few of them on the bottles just to see if anyone notices,” Ahra suggested, sticking another one of the stickers to Sungmin’s chest in return. “Or just to give to your friends.”

“Knowing me, and knowing Jungmo, we’d just forget that we put the wrong roll in the machine and bottle the whole line that way,” Sungmin said, straightening up. He looked at the sticker box and then glanced at Kyuhyun, almost like he was considering sticking a label on Kyuhyun as well, but ultimately he seemed to decide against it and stepped away. “Better not to risk it. But I’ll happily label you, Ahra.”

Ahra stuck her tongue out, the label still attached to her cheek. “If you like it then you’d better put a ring on it,” she said, standing up as well. “Kyu, do you want to get going? It’s getting late.”

Kyuhyun glanced down at his watch to see that it was already early evening, far later than Kyuhyun had expected to spend wandering around the winery with Ahra. 

“I could make dinner if you want to stay,” Sungmin said. “Jungmo should be home in an hour or so.”

It was a tempting offer, especially considering what Sungmin had made for lunch—not to mention the opportunity to figure out who this mysterious Jungmo was, something Kyuhyun very much wanted to know but felt tactless asking—but Kyuhyun knew that accepting would be irresponsible. He had too much work to do, and no way to justify the time spent. “I really can’t,” he said, and didn’t even have to fake the regret in his voice. “I have returns to work on and a conference call in the morning.”

“Ah, so you’re an accountant?” Sungmin asked, nodding as though Ahra probably hadn’t told him that before she even told Kyuhyun he would be joining her today. “Sounds like a job I could never do, so respect to the people who can. I won’t get in the way of your returns, but if you two want to come back down for harvest”—here he looked at Ahra, too, as though to make it obvious that the invitation was extended to the both of them—”we’d love having a couple more sets of hands.”

Ahra glanced at Kyuhyun, another one of those significant looks, and then nodded. “Sounds like fun,” she said. “I don’t know the first thing about bottling wine, but I can definitely be in charge of standing around and looking pretty.”

“You do that so well,” Sungmin said with a grin. “Just give me a few days heads up. Here, let me walk you to your car.”

They did make it to the car, but not without a stop by the kitchen so that Sungmin could foist upon them not only the bottle of Sauvignon blanc that they’d opened at lunch, but also the leftovers of the pasta dish, insisting that he couldn’t keep them around either the winery or the house. “The last thing I need is to get fat on my own cooking,” Sungmin said, almost whining as he held out his hands to stop Ahra from giving the containers back. “And anyway, Jungmo is trying to avoid carbs as much as he can, and he’d kill me for the temptation. Please just take it, do me a favor, okay? And come back at harvest to give the containers back.”

“Fine,” Ahra finally relented, although not without one last stink-eye in Sungmin’s direction. “You are so shameless, using that cute face of yours to your advantage. Have some mercy on me once in a while, would you?”

“Never,” Sungmin said, holding the door for them as they stepped out into the cool evening air. “It was nice to meet you, Kyuhyun. Ahra said you weren’t much for wine, or wineries, so I hope that you at least weren’t miserable. And you’re always welcome to come back, I can always find extra work for someone to do.” He winked, teasingly, and Kyuhyun cleared his throat before offering a smile in return. 

Sungmin waited at the door until Ahra had turned out of the driveway and back onto the main road, and only once the winery was nothing more than a miniature in the rearview mirror did Ahra speak. “So. Awful, or not awful?” she asked, the gloating tone in her voice suggesting that she already knew how Kyuhyun would answer.

“Not awful,” he admitted grudgingly, looking out the window instead of at his sister. “I still don’t think I’m ever going to be a wine aficionado.”

“I bet Sungmin could change that,” she said, and something about her tone of voice made Kyuhyun turn his head sharply to look at her. Ahra widened her eyes innocently and shrugged. “What?”

“You’ve been doing this all afternoon,” Kyuhyun said. “Giving me that look, making these weird double entendres. What gives?”

“Nothing,” Ahra said, but Kyuhyun just stared at her until she relented and said, “it just seemed like you liked him a lot, that’s all. You guys got along well.”

“And?” Kyuhyun asked. With Ahra, there was never a story so simple. 

“And nothing,” she said. “I just think it would be nice if you guys could get closer.”

“Are you trying to set me up?”

“No,” Ahra said, and this time Kyuhyun didn’t even have to stare for too long before she amended her statement. “I mean, not really? Kind of? I just think he’s nice and I think you two would get along, that’s all. Don’t make it out like I’m some kind of matchmaker, okay?”

“Don’t try to make matches and I won’t,” Kyuhyun retorted. “How well did it work out the last time that you did this?”

Several months ago Ahra had tried to set him up with a man she knew from work, a pianist from China named Zhou Mi. He had been nice, and he and Kyuhyun had gotten along well—well enough that Kyuhyun had almost fallen for him before Zhou Mi told him he was moving back to China to play for his home city’s philharmonic. There hadn’t been too much to lose, then—they’d talked about moving in together, getting a cat, getting serious about their relationship. All dreams that had never had a chance to become reality. Kyuhyun couldn’t resent him for it, not when Zhou Mi had poured so much of himself into his art, and not knowing that Zhou Mi’s talent could only grow with the right nurturing. Still, his departure had still left a bruise on Kyuhyun’s heart that he wasn’t even sure had healed yet. 

“That’s not the same,” Ahra protested, but Kyuhyun could tell that she was subsiding, the reminder of the Zhou Mi situation quieting some of her passion. “I won’t try to make anything happen, okay? But I worry about you. You work so hard and you never go out with anyone, I just want you to make some friends and at least have one place to go that doesn’t remind you of work. Is that so bad?”

Not like Kyuhyun could argue that she was wrong. When was the last time he’d taken a day off to do something that wasn’t work-related somehow? And the trip to the winery had been nice, although cut short by Kyuhyun’s workload—something he felt a little regretful about, if he let himself think on it too long. “It wasn’t awful,” he relented, leaning back in the seat and trying not to smile at the self-satisfied expression he could see working its way over Ahra’s face. “He seems nice. But I’m not making any promises.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to,” said Ahra. 

Kyuhyun leaned forward to turn on the radio, and they drove the rest of the way home in silence.


End file.
